Although there have been attempts to deposit metal oxides, such as TiO2 and SrTiO3, during semiconductor fabrication, thermal oxidation of metals in the fabrication of capacitors has been limited since an initial oxide layer prohibits further diffusion during thermal oxidation. As a result the use of high dielectric constant oxidized metals has been limited in semiconductor capacitor fabrication. One such metal, titanium dioxide, has a dielectric constant 2–15 times greater than present semiconductor capacitor dielectrics such as silicon nitride, while titanates are 2–1000 times greater.
In the January 1996 issue of Material Research, Vol. 11, No. 1, an article entitled ELECTROCHEMICAL SYNTHESIS OF BARIUM TITANATE THIN FILMS, R. R. Bacsa et al. describes the synthesizing of polycrystalline films of barium titanate on titanium substrates by the galvanostatic anodization of titanium to form a material which has a dielectric constant of 200.